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Cards' LaRue out until at least Wednesday

Cards' LaRue out until at least Wednesday

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ST. LOUIS -- Jason LaRue will be unavailable until at least Wednesday and quite possibly longer as he attempts to recover from a right hamstring injury. The Cardinals' backup catcher suffered the injury in Sunday night's game against the Brewers.

"It will be day to day," LaRue said. "It's a matter of, it's got to get better. If it doesn't get better, then, worst-case scenario, I would go on the DL. But right now I think we're optimistic that that won't have to happen. It's obviously sore, but it's definitely better than yesterday."

LaRue had replaced regular catcher Yadier Molina when he got hurt on Sunday. As a result, the club's emergency third catcher, Nick Stavinoha, took his place. For the time being, Stavinoha becomes the backup to Molina.

"We won't have a real good read on it, probably until Wednesday," manager Tony La Russa said. "He's got some tenderness there. [We will use] Stavinoha if we have to."

LaRue said that he biggest test for him will be running. He moved around the clubhouse reasonably well on Monday afternoon, and he said that hitting is not a problem. He doesn't feel much pain crouching, but bursting up to make a throw could also be an issue.

"It's not something that's going to bother me to hit or do anything like that," he said. "The only thing is, I've got to be able to at least run. If I can't run, that's not good. So it's going to be a matter of being able to run, is what it's going to boil down to."